Honey (Lakeesha), 39, and dalmatian puppy Jalila share a tent in the park. They have saved each other’s life, at least once. Honey moved into the park at a low point when she and her husband split up and her part time job faded away when the business owner sold out to another company. So she gathered her belongings and set up camp. The recent heavy rains wreaked havoc with her tent, sending it spinning, soaking her belongings. As a single woman, she is vulnerable. She has had many things stolen from her, including a nice bicycle. She’s been sexually assaulted more than once. After Honey saved Jalila from the people who were abusing her, and Jalila tugged Honey away from a freeway bridge, during a moment of despair when she contemplated jumping. Nowadays, the two are inseparable.

Sheri has a degree in geriatrics from USC. She grew up in California in a big family and was happily married for nearly 30 years to a man she calls the “love of my life.” Over the years the couple had nine children, all of whom she said are successful people, either in careers or studying in college. She made one mistake. That mistake changed everything. She ended up being lured into a relationship with someone she met online; who convinced her she was in love with him and to leaver her husband and move in with the stranger.

Angel is a regular feature in Hillcrest, selling her paintings and drawings, smiling bright enough to light up the holiday lights adorning the trees along Fifth Avenue. Born in Illinois, raising five children while her husband worked designing heart monitors in northern Ohio. After 30 years of marriage and the kids almost through college, her husband got a job working for Hughes Aircraft and the couple moved to Los Angeles. They bought a home with a pool and three-car garage. Ten days later he died of a heart attack. Angel sunk into a depression, selling the house, paying off her kids’ college fees and jumped a southbound bus. She’s been on and off the street for the past ten years, living one day at a time, struggling against violence and theft, but always trying to stay positive.

Jeanine has a kind word and a sandwich for any hungry stranger who knocks on her camper shell door…. at a reasonable hour. A transplant from Ohio, where she started life in an orphanage, and was then delivered to her father when he was released from prison, Jeanine is a strong-willed woman who has no shame recounting all the stages of her life leading from Ohio to a truck in San Diego. Jeanine was turned over to her father at age 13. She quickly learned he was a sexual predatory and ran away, leaving her brothers to suffer that abuse. She stayed with an aunt, but was kidnapped into prostitution; escaped that, but was re-introduced into prostitution by a boyfriend. “I got stories!” she said, recounting the episodes of her life. She spent some quality time with a foster family that helped her develop a strong character. She broke both feet jumping out of a window. After hitchhiking her way to Atlanta, she escaped another abusive boyfriend by earning enough money selling ice cream, to buy a one-way ticket on Greyhound to Hollywood. Two years later she was cleaning hotel rooms and working the night shift at a downtown restaurant in San Diego.